Chapter 23 Scarlett
CHAPTER 23
SCARLETT
W hen she woke, there was no male body beside her, and she shot upright in a panic.
“I am here, Love.”
Relief instantly ?ooded through her at the sight of him. He was standing in front of the hearth, his back to her, already dressed for the day. He had on his usual dark-charcoal pants and red tunic. A black jacket was laying across the back of a chair.
She slid from the bed, her bare feet sinking into the plush rug as she made her way to him. When she reached his side, he wordlessly passed her a cup of tea, steam instantly beginning to rise from it.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
He only nodded, his gaze ?xed on the ?ickering ?ames. Black hair fell across his forehead, and she reached up tentatively to brush it back. When he didn’t pull away from her, she ran her ?ngers gently along the side of his face. His eyes fell closed, and he sighed, the sound somehow both pleasure and wariness all at once.
As she withdrew her hand, he pulled a note from his pocket, passing it to her.
“It appears Talwyn is demanding to meet with you.”
Scarlett glanced at the quickly scrawled message before incinerating it in her palm and tossing the ashes into the hearth. “Is Prince Azrael all right? I know I asked a lot of him.”
“I have not heard,” Sorin answered. “My focus has been rather singular for a while now.”
She nodded, taking a sip of her tea.
“The others will be wanting to see you as well,” Sorin continued after the silence stretched on.
“And hear my explanations for my actions, I am sure,” she replied somewhat bitterly.
“Yes,” he con?rmed. “And that. You will …” He pushed out another long breath, raking his hand through his hair, those same strands she’d brushed away falling back onto his brow. “After this, Scarlett, you will need to prove yourself to them.”
“I seem to remember you telling Talwyn I did not need to prove myself,” she said.
“They trusted you without question once. It will not happen again. Not after everything that happened. Now you do need to prove yourself to them,” Sorin replied.
She pursed her lips, calling shadows to her ?ngertips and letting them drift along her palm, drawing comfort from their darkness. She didn’t say anything to that because what was there to say? Would it make any difference when they heard her explanations and reasonings? Sorin still hadn’t let her fully explain her actions, and she knew even once she did, it still wouldn’t repair any of the chasm that had formed between them.
“I think you should meet with my Inner Court, Briar, and the Water Court ?rst. Deal with them. Give them time to react, so that when we meet with the Eastern Courts, you are not feeling attacked from all directions,” Sorin said tightly, his hands sliding into his pockets.
“Attacked?”
He ?nally turned to meet her eyes. “They are angry, Scarlett. They are hurt. They feel betrayed by their queen. I told you they needed to know you trust them. You basically told them you do not.”
His eyes went back to the ?re, and she heard what he didn’t voice: you basically told me you do not trust me.
“What things would you like to know before we go back?” she asked quietly, ?ddling with the teacup just to keep her hands busy.
“When did you ?gure it out? What those Night Children were really doing at the border?”
“I had been trying to ?gure out their angle since I saw the reports at the meeting with Talwyn. The day I came for you,” she answered.
“When did you ?gure it out?” he repeated.
“When Briar con?rmed there were only three Night Children at his border, I knew for sure.”
“So before I stepped foot over the border to speak with them, you already knew you were going to leave,” he con?rmed.
Her eyes fell to her tea. “Yes.”
“What happened at the border?”
“There were several Night Children there. And the High Force. I fought.”
She felt his gaze swivel to her. “You fought against the High Force? Alone? The force I trained?”
Scarlett shook her head. “When the leader of the Night Children realized who I was, he instructed the High Force to fall back. So he and the other Night Children could have room to detain me.”
“You took on an entire clan of Night Children? By yourself?”
“Took on and defeated,” she answered.
“Clearly not defeated, Scarlett. You were taken captive.”
“I was not captured by Night Children, Sorin.”
“Alaric was there?” he asked, and she could feel his eyes burning into her.
She lifted her chin to meet golden irises as she said, “No. Tarek is the one who captured me. I had used all my magic. I was weak, and I couldn’t ?ght back.”
“Scarlett,” he said slowly, “who is Tarek?”
“Talwyn’s twin ?ame. He was there waiting for her. They were expecting Talwyn to show up at the border,” she answered.
“Tarek Ordos is dead. He died with Thia on that mission. It could not possibly be that Tarek,” Sorin said.
Scarlett shook her head. “It is him, Sorin. He said he is the rightful heir to the Earth Court. He believes he should rule that Court. He told me the story of how his family lost their Royal seat to the Luans.”
“I saw his corpse in that cave beside Thia,” Sorin insisted. “It could not possibly be him.”
“I don’t know what to say, Sorin. It all ?ts. I could scent earth magic on him. He appears to know Talwyn very well. He knew who you were. Who Azrael was. He even knows Talwyn and Azrael are lovers now. His blood is how they kept me from weakening too much—”
“Who is your mother?” Sorin interrupted. Her eyes went wide.
“I do not know.”
“Scarlett.” Sorin said her name in a clear warning, as though he suspected she was lying.
He probably did.
“I swear I do not know who she is,” Scarlett answered. “But I know what she looks like, and I know she is Avonleyan. I know my father was Avonleyan. Whether they still live, I do not know. The last time I saw her, that I can remember, was when I was ?ve, and she made Cassius my Guardian.”
“What is that? What does it mean that Cassius is your Guardian?” Sorin asked, turning to face her fully.
“I don’t completely understand it,” Scarlett admitted. “It was a blood ritual. Our blood was mixed, and we both drank. We were both Marked, and—”
“Where?” Sorin demanded.
“On our backs. Alaric said he has seen the Mark at various times over the years. He didn’t know how she did it, but said a Witch cast some sort of spell to make us forget it.”
Sorin was already reaching for her, his hands on her shoulders, spinning her gently and lifting her nightgown. “I have seen every inch of your skin, Scarlett. There is no Mark,” he said, the cool air pebbling her exposed ?esh.
“But you also cannot see the one on my arm,” she replied. “Or the one on my collarbone.”
He dropped the fabric of her nightgown, spinning her back and reaching for her left arm, running his thumb along her forearm. “You tried to tell me,” he murmured. His gaze moving to her clavicle before landing on her eyes.
“Your eyes are silver.”
“So I hear.” When he just held her stare, she sighed. “The man I see in my dreams sometimes. He is the one who gave me the other two Marks … And told me my eyes are silver now.”
“You saw him again? How often do you see him, Scarlett?” Sorin asked, his grip on her arm tightening.
“My connection to him was blocked by my Mark, just like my bonds to you and Cassius and Shirina were. I hadn’t seen him since Talwyn and I saw him together. Not until after … You know,” she said, trailing off, her eyes darting back to the hearth.
“Until after you drank from me,” Sorin ?nished for her. She nodded.
“You are Avonleyan,” he breathed, his hand coming up to cup her cheek.
“I am,” she agreed.
“And Cassius?”
“Is half-Avonleyan, half-Witch,” Scarlett con?rmed, ?nally meeting his stare once more.
“And you will need to feed from Fae? To replenish your Avonleyan powers?” Sorin asked, his eyes searching hers.
“No. I mean, yes. For now. If it’s needed again, but apparently that is not the best way. The man in my dream told me I need to ?nd a Source.”
“What does that mean?” he asked, his hand moving to tuck her hair behind her ear.
Scarlett sighed. “I don’t know. He’s about as helpful as the Oracle. He just said the way I … fed from you is apparently outlawed? I suppose I’ll need to venture beneath the library in Solembra and see what I can ?nd. Along with the keys. And a lock. And he mentioned training with my shadows and white ?ames more.”
“There is so much to go into here, Scarlett. So much you need to explain,” Sorin said with a shake of his head.
“Where do you want to start?” she asked, biting her lip. She would start with whatever he felt was most important, but she was also itching to go check on Cassius. She hadn’t anticipated sleeping until the next day, when Sorin had brought her here yesterday afternoon.
“You should start with getting dressed and then you need to eat,” he said knowingly. As if on cue, her stomach grumbled loudly, and she scowled at him. He chuckled, turning her towards the armoire. “Get dressed, Love. I will meet you in the kitchen. You can grab something to bring with us.”
She dressed quickly in black pants and a white tunic, tugging her boots on before she descended the stairs. Sorin was waiting for her, holding out a pear in one hand and a pastry in the other.
“Ready?” he asked.
But she wasn’t. She knew she had to face everyone, but her stomach dropped at actually having to do so now.
“We can go see Cassius ?rst,” Sorin said gently.
“And I need to check on the children.”
“Yes, but I think it would be best to see everyone else ?rst. I don’t want you to run into any of them in front of the children …” Sorin trailed off.
“It’s going to be that bad?” she asked quietly, glancing at the food in her hands. She suddenly wasn’t hungry at all.
“It will be ?ne. I will be there with you. Always together,” he replied, and she felt the heat of a ?re portal open behind her.
She took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders, and stepped through into the room Cassius was sleeping in. Hazel was standing exactly where she had been when Scarlett had left yesterday. She set her food down on a nearby table before coming to her side, immediately taking Cassius’s hand. It was no longer cold to the touch, but warm as it should be, and she let out a long breath of relief.
“You are feeling better?” Hazel asked with a sidelong glance.
“Very much so,” Scarlett answered. “How is he today?”
“He is progressing,” she said.
“Are you still giving him blood every two hours?”
“It does not need to be as frequent. Three or four times a day should suf?ce,” Hazel answered.
“But if we continued with every two hours, would it speed things up?” Scarlett pushed, looking up and meeting her violet stare.
Hazel shook her head. “Now that you are not trying to draw power from him, it will be more than enough.”
She felt Sorin come up behind her, and a moment later his arm slipped around her, the pear in his palm. “Eat, Love,” he whispered into her ear. “I cannot imagine they fed you much these last weeks.”
She looked at him and gave him a slight grimace. “I really don’t think I can eat right now, Sorin.”
He pulled the pear back and nodded once. “Let’s get this over with then. You need to eat.”
With another glance back at Cassius, she followed Sorin out and down a hallway.
“This is the queen’s private wing of the Black Halls,” Sorin said, interlacing his ?ngers with hers.
“The whole wing? Like the Fiera Palace?”
“Yes,” he con?rmed. “There are several private quarters. The one Cassius is in was mine.”
“And where are we going now?” she asked as he led her down a winding set of stone steps.
“One of the council rooms.”
“Everyone is already there?”
“Yes,” he answered. “I sent ?re messages this morning, after you agreed to meet with them before seeing Talwyn.”
She nodded again and focused on her breathing. In and out.
In and out. In and out.
They came to a stop outside of a set of double wood doors intricately carved with ?re and water elements. She could hear muf?ed voices on the other side. Sorin turned to face her, his hands coming to rest on her shoulders.
“You can do this, Scarlett.”
“I know,” she replied. “If I can face the wrath of the Fire Prince, I can surely handle his Court and a Water Prince. Right?”
A soft smile tilted up the corners of his lips. “Right, Princess.” He brushed his knuckles along her cheekbone as he said, “Ready?”
She took another deep breath, blowing it out harshly. She felt his ?re magic brush along her skin as he turned and pushed one of the doors open. He stepped in and held the door open for her. Scarlett followed behind him, all the chatter coming to a halt the moment the door had opened. She scanned the room to ?nd Eliza, Rayner, and Cyrus seated at the large round table occupying the center of the room. Briar and Sawyer stood nearby at a tall table along the wall. She was relieved to see Nakoa wasn’t present.
All eyes watched her every movement as she crossed the room and sank unceremoniously into a chair at the table. Her ?ngers curled around the ends of the armrests, and she was unable to keep the shadows back that seeped from her skin, hovering around her like a black mist. Sorin pulled the chair out beside her, and before he took his seat, he bent down and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek.
I love you like the stars love the night, Scarlett. All the way through the darkness.
It was the ?rst time he had spoken to her down their bond since it had been repaired, and the relief that ?ooded through her chest had her shadows receding and her breathing evening out.
He took his seat, an elbow on the table and his chin propped on his ?st. His other rested on the surface, too, his ?ngers drumming a few times as he stared down his Court. She and Sorin may have their own issues right now, but at this moment, he was her Second. Her husband. King of the Western Courts.
Briar and Sawyer had silently made their way to the table and taken seats. There was so much tension in the air, Scarlett could have cut it with a knife.
“So who wants to go ?rst?” she ?nally asked. When no one said a word, she locked eyes with the general. “Eliza? Surely you want to lay into me?” Her gaze moved to Cyrus. “How about you, Darling? I know you have much to say. You made that clear yesterday.”
The Fire Court Second and the general glanced at each other, but to Scarlett’s shock, neither of them were the ?rst to speak.
“You deceived us all,” Rayner said, his low voice dark and cold.
Scarlett’s focus swiveled to him, landing on eyes swirling with smoke and ashes. “I did,” she agreed.
“You went to another border. Alone. When you knew there were threats gathering at all the Court borders,” he continued.
“I did,” she said again. “I had suspicions about a few things and did not have the time to go through endless meetings and correspondence and debate about whether or not it was worth the risk.”
“Then you send me in,” Rayner said darkly. “You send in someone who can move among the ashes. You let me gather that information for you using the dozens of spies I have in place all over the godsdamn continent. You are the queen .”
Scarlett had never seen Rayner display such emotion, and it was honestly terrifying. Her ?ngers tightened around the ends of the armrests further, but she kept her chin high. “I understand, Rayner. I am not used to being able to rely on others so thoroughly. I understand what my actions cost.”
“And you considered the cost an acceptable price?” Sawyer asked.
Scarlett met his icy blue eyes, mirrors of her own when they weren’t bright silver. “I thought I knew what the cost would be.” She glanced at Sorin out of the corner of her eye, where he had stiffened slightly. “Did I consider the safety of these Courts to be worth the cost of my life? Yes. Did I fully understand what the cost of my actions would be? No. Do I understand what they have cost me now? Yes.”
“Perhaps you can explain to us what you were investigating,” Briar cut in. When she met his gaze, she didn’t ?nd the anger of the others. He gave her an encouraging smile as he asked, “How did you ?gure out what was going on at the borders?”
Scarlett repeated everything she’d told Sorin this morning about her suspicions after seeing the reports and ?nding a clan of Night Children there.
“Was your deception at least fruitful?” Eliza sneered when she had ?nished.
Scarlett shrugged. “Did I learn information about my own history and plans to kill the Contessa? Yes. Did I learn that Alaric is a Maraan Prince and the son of Deimas and Esmeray? Yes. Was it worth my capture, being chained to a wall for days on end with little food and water, being forced to sleep next to Mikale, and watching Cassius be tortured nearly to death? I guess that remains to be seen. Do I regret my actions? Yes.”
Sorin’s head slowly turned to her. “I believe you failed to mention the sleeping next to Mikale part during our various conversations,” he gritted out.
“Yes, well, when you’ve kept so many secrets and spoken so many lies, I am sure it is hard to keep them all straight,” Eliza said bitterly.
“Watch it, General,” Sorin snarled, his head snapping towards her. Eliza rolled her eyes, crossing her arms and leveling him with a glare.
“Her actions put all of us in danger. She says she did this to keep our Courts safe? We just spent weeks away from our Court and risked our lives to get her out.”
Scarlett opened her mouth to say something, but Eliza wasn’t done. “You knew something was wrong,” she said, still speaking to Sorin and not to her. “We all did. You tried to get her to tell you, but she just sat there drawing that fucking Mark in the dirt.” Her grey eyes came back to hers, and Scarlett sucked in a breath to ?nd tears glimmering there. “You just needed to say something! We would have listened, Scarlett. We would have helped you!”
“I’m sorry,” Scarlett said softly. She wanted to look away from the general, but she forced herself to keep her eyes locked on hers. “I do not know what else I can say. None of my explanations are to serve as excuses, because there are not any excuses I can offer that will make what I did acceptable. I am sorry.”
“This will not work if you cannot trust us, Scarlett,” Briar said gently. “If you are going to insist on doing everything on your own—”
“I’m not,” Scarlett interrupted. “I know my track record says otherwise at this moment, but it was never my plan to intentionally exclude you. It was not some calculated plan to sneak away from you all, to block my twin ?ame bond, to face a clan of Night Children on my own. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, and it was the wrong one. I made the wrong choice, and I am sorry.”
A heavy silence descended on the room, the tension still just as thick. “Is there anything in particular you would like kept from Queen Talwyn when we meet with her later today?” Briar asked, lifting a glass of water and taking a drink. Scarlett could only assume that while Nakoa and Neve were not here, they were watching on the other side of a water mirror.
“She needs to know about the Maraan Lords and their plans to kill the Contessa.” She glanced at Sorin real quick before she continued and said, “And she needs to know Tarek lives and is working with them.”
“Scarlett, we have discussed this. It cannot be her twin ?ame. There has to be another explanation for it,” Sorin said.
“I know you think that, Sorin, but I think you’re wrong. He ?at out told me he is her twin ?ame. The things he told me …”
“Then he is lying. Just like Alaric and Lord Tyndell have done to you your entire life,” Sorin argued.
Scarlett sat back, crossing her arms. “I guess we will have to wait and see, but I think you need to be prepared for the possibility of it being him. Talwyn needs to be prepared for that.”
Her gaze caught on Cyrus who hadn’t uttered a single word since she’d arrived here, and the thought suddenly occurred to her that if Tarek was alive, then …
“If it’s true,” she said slowly, “could that mean that Thia might—” “No,” Cyrus said shortly.
“But no one thinks Tarek could be alive either and—”
“She does not live, Scarlett,” Cyrus replied, his tone low and dark. “You do not feel your soul ripping apart the way I did at her death if half of it is not being torn away from you.”
Scarlett’s eyes had fallen to the table as he spoke, but they snapped back to his when he continued. “ Nothing could compare to the terror and pain and grief that I felt when I knew Thia was gone, when I knew she had been taken from me. But learning my queen had been captured, not knowing what you were enduring? Seeing my prince go nearly feral at not being able to ?nd you? To feel you? Gods, Scarlett! What the fuck were you thinking? Because it certainly did not have a godsdamn thing to do with our safety or the safety of these Courts.”
“Cyrus,” Sorin warned, but Scarlett held up her hand to silence him.
“Do you really not trust any of us that much? Me? Eliza? Briar? Your godsdamn twin ?ame ?” Cyrus demanded. “You had every opportunity to say something. Fuck, you could have said something long before that day. You could have said something the day you found that chamber beneath the library that Sorin had to tell us about. You could have said something in any of the weeks between that night and the day you stood at our border and effectively told us all to fuck off.” He was on his feet now, bracing his hands on the table and leaning towards her. “We claimed you as one of our own. From the moment Sorin carried you across that border, we claimed you. You were ours just as much as you were his. Not when you became queen. Not when you accepted your place. That very day we risked our lives without question to see you enter the Fire Court with him. We claimed you, and you could give all of two fucks about it. If you had simply said something, anything , while we were all discussing these matters at the border, this entire situation could have been avoided.”
Tears were coursing down her face, and her hand was over her mouth to sti?e the sob that was clawing its way up her throat. She was shaking her head at his words because they weren’t true. They weren’t true in the slightest. He was her family. They all were.
“Cyrus,” she rasped. “Cyrus, I am sorry.”
But he said nothing. He glanced once at Sorin before pushing off the table and stalking from the room, the door banging shut behind him.
Give him a little time, Love .
She nodded, swallowing back more tears, her gaze dropping to the table.
“Let’s take a break,” Sorin said to the room. “She hasn’t eaten since she got here, and she wants to check on the children. Everyone take some time to cool down, and then we can meet again this afternoon.”
The room emptied out, until it was only her and Sorin left sitting at the table. She heard him slide from his chair and turned her own away from the table. He crouched before her, looking up into her face. He reached up and swiped tears away with his thumb.
“Hey, Love.”
“Gods, I am so sorry, Sorin,” she said, more tears sliding free. “I told you I was not made for this. I told you I wasn’t made to sit on a throne. I should have listened to my instincts.”
“No,” he replied, shaking his head. “I do not believe that for one second. I do not know what Alaric said or did to you while you were there to make you doubt yourself like this, but you are strong enough to face this. Mistakes were made. You made a bad call. What’s done is done. Now you get to decide how to move on from here. But ?rst …” He stood, taking her hand and tugging her to her feet with him. “You are going to eat.”
“So demanding,” she murmured, swiping at her face yet again.
He tucked her into his side, pressing a kiss to her hair as he guided her to the doors. “Love, you’ll discover just how demanding I can be later tonight.”